What Keeps You Going?

 How do you keep going when everything is falling apart?

An entrepreneur asked me this over the weekend. We were both in that headspace: excited about what we're building, terrified it won't work, exhausted from the constant push. Here's what I told them: "I keep pushing through. For entrepreneurs, it's complex. Financial challenges, dips in business, signals it's time to pivot, the nagging self-doubts, a long list of real and psychological artifacts that pose challenges. I find ways for new revenue or side gigs when times are lean. Not easy by any means, but being an entrepreneur pushes us past our limits. Challenges help us discover strengths we didn't know we had. We get tired of being worried, stressed, or uncomfortable, and that exhaustion motivates us to take action. I'm building a new project right now. Which creates a myriad of emotions. It's all in my head with no proof of concept. Just me, my vision, and tenacity to make it happen." But here's the part we don't talk about enough: the mental health toll of entrepreneurship. Gray skies and rain exacerbate Seasonal Affective Disorder by reducing sunlight, disrupting circadian rhythms, lowering serotonin, and increasing melatonin production. This triggers deep fatigue, low motivation, sadness, irritability, isolation. For entrepreneurs already dealing with financial stress, pivots, and self-doubt? It's another layer. I've been in conversations with multiple entrepreneurs this week and weekend, and we're all in the same headspace. Excited. Worried. Pushing through. But we rarely have the support structures to address what's happening in our heads while we're building. That's what I'm working to change. Entrepreneurship isn't just about strategy, funding, and execution. It's about navigating the psychological warfare that comes with creating something from nothing. It's about building systems that support not just our businesses, but our mental health. So when someone asks me how I keep going when everything is falling apart, my honest answer is: I acknowledge that it is falling apart. I sit with the discomfort. I find the people who understand. And I keep moving. Not because I have it all figured out, but because tenacity, vision, and a commitment to mental health will carry me further than pretending I'm fine ever could. To the entrepreneurs in the thick of it: You're not alone. The struggle is real. And there's a missing piece in our ecosystem that we need to build together. What keeps you going when it feels like everything is crumbling?

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/drkfreezeseedcollective0333k_how-do-you-keep-going-when-everything-is-activity-7426297673034657792-LpMr?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAABWQnvAB8ccKGaGWeqIHWRN18VxzjaMhqns